James felt his face smash into the inside of his helmet from the force of the explosion. Alarms as well as his ears rang as he struggled to regain his balance and composure. The lights in his helmet's eyeports flickered on and off. The night vision was shot. He turned them off with a few blinks and saw the red baseball bat fly towards his face. James still flinched despite knowing that the bat would not do anything to him while he was in the suit. James took the hit and closed in on the short distance between him and his attacker. He swatted the bat away and closed his grip around the woman's small neck.

"Malone!" James shouted. He saw the fat, pudgy gangster poke his head out from behind cover.

"Darla!" Skinny Malone fixed his submachine gun on James. "Let her go now."

"C'mon Skinny, you know that peashooter's not gonna do the trick against power armor like that." Nick Valentine's voice called out from behind a column. "Just let us go and we'll leave you alone, c'mon Skinny. For old times sake."

"It was for old time's sake that I kept you alive Nicky!" Skinny Malone shouted. "But your friends come here. Tear up my place. Kill my men. Attack my girl!" Skinny Malone chambered a round into his weapon. James lifted up Charon's shotgun with his left hand. He aimed right for "Skinny" Malone's fat torso. He quickly remembered how Charon had trained him to be ambidextrous with firearms and was saddened to remember the demise of his friend. "That just ain't gonna fly, Nicky. Your friend's gonna pay."

"Bring it, fatty." James taunted. Darla smacked at James's arm in a futile attempt to escape his grasp.

Katherine cranked her laser musket as she sneaked by two of Skinny Malone's triggermen. She unsheated her combat knife from its sheath in her belt and she grabbed one of the men. Stabbing him numerous tiems in the neck as she covered his mouth. She dragged the body back. James was surprised that she would resort to killing so quickly. Piper followed Katherine, 10mm drawn.

"Wow. Blue. I didn't know you were so good at the wastelander stuff." Piper whispered.

"Blue?"

"Y'know. Vault suit?"

"But James wears one? Why don't you call him blue?"

"He's from a vault too?! Wow. Two blues?!" Katherine rolled her eyes. She crawled up behind a small container and nodded at James. James smiled. He knew just what to do.

"Skinny, look around. You're surrounded." James told him. Darla continued to struggle in James's grasp.

"Hah! You're the one that's surrounded and that pulse grenade I threw earlier seems to be doing the trick. You're armor looks like it's just about ready to bust. How long do you think it'll take 4 people to take you out?" Nick stepped out from behind the column lighting a cigarette. James looked at him funny. Either you're the dumbest bot I've ever met or the classiest. He remarked to himself. Nick flicked the match away and puffed on his cigarette and placed his hands in his coat pockets. Malone shifted his aim to Valentine, to which Valentine shrugged off. Katherine shot out of the container she was using as cover and Piper followed. The red glow and hum from the musket let James know that it was fully charged to the maximum three cranks that Katherine could currently achieve.

"Yeah. Skinny. Four guys against one." Valentine said. He continued to puff on his cigarette as he took a step towards Skinny Malone. Skinny backed up a step.

"Don't you do it, Nicky." He sputtered as he panicked. Nick took another step.

"Or what, Skinny? You gonna shoot me?" Valentine asked, he held his hands out and basically offered Skinny a free shot at his torso. Skinny Malone took more steps back.

"Hey, Kat. Is that thing still out there?" James asked noting that Skinny Malone was very close to the entrance of the vault. James could hear gunfire and screams.

"Uh… I don't know?" She shrugged smiling slightly.

"Hey, Skinny. You don't want to do that."

"Do what?" Nick asked. Skinny shot a burst from his submachinegun, the blast caught Nick in the arm, causing from green liquid to spurt from his arm. "Gah!" he shouted as he fell to ground. Katherine fired. The laser cleaved the submachinegun in half. Skinny dashed out of the vault. James let Darla go.

"Skinny!" she shouted as she followed him out of the vault. James didn't want to imagine what they'd do when they found out that Katherine's pet deathclaw lay in wait outside. James rested the shotgun on his shoulder as he made his to Nick. Katherine turned him over and James could see the exit wounds on Nick's chest, green fluid spilling out slightly. The majority of the damage came from a large hole in his arm. James exited his power armor and leapt out of it, feeling the fresh air once more. He knelt by Nick and took out a doctor's bag. He opened it and began to get to work to closing the "wounds". He was unsure if first aid on a synth would be the same as a human but James did his best. He closed the wounds and bandaged Nick. All the while, Nick's blue eyes mechanically analyzed James's actions and movements.

"You're a doctor?" Nick asked finally after a few minutes. Nick rested his head on Katherin's lap as James worked. James shook his head and he used his chin to hold a piece of guaze.

"My father was a doctor. In the vault I was assigned to be his assistant and I picked up a few basic things. Then I eventually left the vault and had to figure everything else out on my own. I never got any formal training. Just read some old medical journals and learned things through trial and error." James said as he pressed the bandage onto Nick's arm. He began to wrap it with a piece of cloth.

"If your dad's a doctor why didn't you ask him to train you formally?" Katherine asked. James did not look up from his "patient" while he continued to wrap the arm.

"He died before I could ask him."

"Oh." Piper and Katherine said in unison.

"How- How old were you?" Piper asked. James used a pair of scissors to cut the cloth.

"Nineteen. That was ten years ago."

"I'm sorry…" Katherine muttered. "I didn't know. You never talk about your family."

"It's not your fault. How's your arm?" James asked. Nick tried moving it and let his mechanical fingers flex and unflex.

"It still works. I assume that's a good sign." Nick said. "Thanks, doc." James smiled wiped his hands on his jeans before offering a hand to help Nick up. Nick took it and James pulled Nick to his feet. "So not that I enjoy the reverse damsel-in-distress scenario," Nick said looking at Katherine "but what are you two doing here?"

"Ellie sent us." James said as he put away the things back into his doctor's bag. He stowed it away and stepped back into the power armor.

"Ellie huh? God bless her, she deserves a raise." Nick said. "So what do you two need from me?"

"How did you know we needed something from you?" Katherine asked.

"Well, he is a detective." Piper said. James heard a roar echo in the subway tunnel.

"Maybe this is the wrong place for this discussion. How about we get back to the agency first?" James asked.

"Sure. Lead the way?" Nick asked.

"You lead. We'll follow." Katherine said. Nick nodded, he relit his cigarette and walked out of the vault with Piper. James began to walk as well. Katherine grabbed the power armor's arm. James turned back.

"I'm sorry. I didn't know…"

"I know. You already said that. I try to avoid talking about it."

"But you don't need to anymore. You can talk to me. You know that right?" Katherine stared back at herself in the cold, dead, yellow eyes of the helmet. James didn't respond.

"Holy hell, Deathclaw!" Nick's voice called out. James looked and caught the glimphse of Nick reaching for his pistol as the deathclaw sharpened its claws.

"C'mon. We'll talk later. They need us." James said before continuing out of the vault. Katheirne looked down at her laser musket. She looked back up at the back of James's power armor.

"Yeah…" She muttered to herself before following him.